COLEOPTERA. 369 



Tricondyla, Lat. 



Destitute of wings; antennae filiform; penultimate joint of the 

 labial palpi longest and thickest ; thorax in the form of a knot, sub- 

 ovoid, strangulated, truncated, and turned up at both ends ; abdomen 

 oval, oblong, narrowed towards the base, and slightly gibbous pos- 

 teriorly; three first joints of the anterior tarsi dilated in the males, 

 the third obliquely prolonged on the inner side of the manner of a 

 lobe ; the fourth nearly similar, but much smaller and less prolonged*. 



The second tribe, or the Carabici, Lat comprehends the genus 

 Carabus, Lin. 



Where the maxillae simply terminate in a point or hook, without an 

 articulated extremity. 



Their head is usually narrower than the thorax, or, at most, of the 

 same width ; their mandibles, those of a few excepted, have no den- 

 tations, or but very few ; the ligula visually projects, and the labial 

 palpi exhibit but three free joints f . Many of them are destitute of 

 wings, only having elytra. They frequently diffuse a fetid odour, 

 and eject an acrid and caustic liquid from the anus. Geoffroy be- 

 lieved that the ancients designated Carabici under the name of 

 Buprestes, Insects which they considered as highly poisonous, par- 

 ticularly to Oxen |. 



The Carabici conceal themselves in the ground, under stones, 

 chips, bark of old trees, &c„ and are mostly very active. Their larvae 

 have the same habits. This tribe is very numerous, and forms a 

 most difficult study. 



We will compose a first general subdivision with those, the termi- 

 nation of Avhose exterior palpi is not subulate ; their last joint is not 

 united with the preceding one, to form either an oval body acutely 

 pointed at the end, or a conoid terminated by a slender and acicular 

 point. 



These Carabici may be subdivided into those whose two anterior 

 tibiae have a deep notch on the inner side, separating the two spines 

 which are usually placed near each other at the extremity of this 

 side, and into those where these tibiae present no emargination, or if 

 any, a mere oblique, linear canal, which does not reach their anterior 

 side. 



Of this subdivision we will make several sections : 



1. The Truncatipennes,so called because the posterior extremity 

 of their elytra is almost always truncated. The head and thorax are 

 narrower than the abdomen. The ligula is most commonly oval or 

 square, and is rarely accompanied on the sides by salient divisions. 



The hooks of the tarsi, in some, are simple or not dentated, but 

 arranged like the teeth of a comb. 



* Idem. 



•f In Cicindela the radical joint is free, and it is on this account that the palpi con- 

 sist of four ; hut here it is entirely adherent and forms but one base which is not 

 counted, 



X See the genus Melofi. 



VOL. UI. B B 



